Abstract

Given the proliferation of new-generation internet capable devices in our society, they are now commonly used for a variety of purposes and by a variety of ages, including young children. The vast amount of new media content, available through these devices, cause parents to worry about what their children have access to. In this thesis we investigated how parents and children can work together towards
the goal of content control and filtering.

One problem to the current content control filtering tools and approaches is that they do not involve children in the filtering process, thus missing an opportunity of educating children about content appropriateness. Therefore, we propose a “kid-in-the-loop” approach to content control and filtering where parents and children collaboratively configure restrictions and filters, an approach that focuses on education rather than simple rule setting. We conducted an exploratory qualitative study with results highlighting the importance that parents place on avoiding inappropriate content. Building on these findings, we designed an initial “kid-in-the-loop” prototype which allows parents to work with their children to select appropriate applications, providing parents with the opportunity to educate their children on what they consider to be appropriate or inappropriate. We further validate our proposed approach by conducting a qualitative study with sets of parents and children in the six to eight year-old age group, which revealed an overwhelmingly favorable response to this approach. We conclude this thesis with a comprehensive analysis of our approach, which can be leveraged in designing content control systems targeting both parents and children.